Steven and the Queen
by Tomoyo-chan284
Summary: Steven was never meant to be queen. They have him try anyway. Cross-posted to AO3.


Steven and the QUeen

By Tomoyo-chan

A Steven Universe Fanfic

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When the queen gave birth to a son, everyone knew it wasn't the child of the princess-consort. For one, it was impossible for the pair of them to have a boy, and for another, he was at least in part organic, needing to eat and sleep and excrete various substances. Rose didn't bother denying it, so Steven knew from a young age that his father was a human bard who often stopped at the palace. Greg tried to be there for him, but it was hard to weather the stares and whispers sometimes. Even if he sometimes left, he always came back.

When Rainbow was born two years later, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. She was at least full Gem, even if there were rumors that she might not be Pearl's. The debates on whether a boy could inherit the throne stalled, as everyone fully expected the crown to pass to Rainbow when she grew up.

With Rainbow and Steven so close in age, it was just easier to have the two of them tutored together. Pearl taught both of them how to fence, though Steven was far better at defense and Rainbow often hurt herself trying to show off. Steven had been fortunate, in that Pearl came to love him as much as her own daughter. With both Rose's and Pearl's support, the discrimination against him had been limited to whispers and minor pranks. Steven just laughed them off, though he sometimes went to bed with bruises. He had a Mom and a Dad and a Dama, and a sister who loved him.

But as Steven's fourteenth birthday approached, the debates and protests rose into a new fury of activity when Rose declared that she intended to start teaching Steven to be the next queen. Soon the whispers turned into outright hateful comments, and the pranks turned less benign. More than once, he showed up in lessons claiming he had just tripped, or lost track of time, or got scratched by a cat. When he broke his arm, Rose decided something had to change.

She though long and hard for days, talking to Pearl and Emerald and the rest of her advisors, leafing though ancient tones and modern law books alike. Finally she announced that Steven would undergo a purification, to 'remove the person he had been, and be reborn as a new Gem devoted to the queendom.'

It took weeks of preparation, substances to be fetched and important personages to be reassured. Steven's lessons were put on hold as he was expected to memorize and prepare for the ancient ceremony. He took to staying up half the night either meditating or poring over the books Pearl had given him.

Finally the day arrived. It began with a cold bath in water boiled three times and loaded with salt. Following that, he had to repeat the virtues of Gemhood and then spend the morning standing in the courtyard to 'absorb the essences of the people.' He had to fast all day, easy for a Gem but unknown to the young prince. The afternoon was spent repeating the virtues and then at sundown, he got another cold bath - this time an herb bath that even Steven thought made him smell weird. Then he had to remain kneeling in the throne room all night, alone, and meditate on what he had seen that day.

Sometime past midnight, when only hunger was staving off sleep, Steven was disturbed by a noise by the closed doors. The single candle he had, nearly extinguished, was too weak to identify the intruder until she was almost upon him. Rainbow smiled at her brother, quickly showing him the two rolls she had brought with her.

"I'm not supposed to eat."

"Gems don't need to eat, but you do. You'll fall over in the morning if you don't. Surely a little bread wont taint your new self for the queendom."

Steven accepted the rolls, but didn't eat them.

"Are you excited? In the morning, you'll officially be princess-heir. Or prince-heir I guess."

Steven shrugged, looking down at the rolls he turned in his hands. "Are you disappointed? We thought it would be you."

"A little, but you're my brother. I know you'll be good for the queendom. You're kind, and brave, and friendly, and you find solutions that no one else thinks of. You'll be a good queen."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Rainbow was about to leave when Steven spoke.

"What if…what if I don't want it?" Rainbow turned wide eyes to him as he continued speaking to his hands. "What will happen to me when I'm only doing it because I have to? Will I be a good queen then?" Tears started falling down his cheeks. "What happens when I have to get married and have kids? What Gem will want me, could I even be sure that we would have daughters? What if I can't do it?"

"Steven…" Rainbow curled up next to her brother, putting an arm around him as he cried into his knees. It took a long time for the tears to end, but even then all she had for him was the words, "You'll figure something out."

Morning dawned bright as Steven trod the stairs up to the palace wall, where he was to repeat the virtues one more time, and then make an oath to leave behind his past and human weaknesses to become the best Gem Gemkind had to offer. He was reluctant, but he knew what his duties were.

With his mother smiling at him, and his Dama fidgeting nervously at her side, Steven gave a quick reassuring look and then turned to face the countryside and the crowd below. He repeated the virtues (honesty, loyalty, compassion, protection, and courage) one last time and took a deep breath.

"I'm supposed to be giving an oath to serve Gemkind, to become the new best person for the throne. But I'm not, not the best new person. I'm clumsy, and forget all kinds of stuff, and maybe I'm good at making individual people happy, but we wouldn't even be doing this if you were all happy to have me as your queen. So right now, I'm giving it all to my sister. She'll be much better at it than me."

He turned, as the shocked silence began to be broken, to see his mother had budding tears in her eyes and Pearl seconds from having a nervous episode.

"I'm sorry, I know you wanted this to work out, but I'm not fit for this; it would be much better if Rainbow were queen."

"Oh Steven," Rose sighed as the tears started to fall, "That's why I though you should be, because you think so much of other people. But I realized I never asked if you wanted to do it, took your feelings into consideration. I'm so sorry, and so proud of you."

Steven started tearing up too, and it took Pearl berating them to 'at least get off the wall before you make blubbering messes of yourselves' for them to try and contain themselves. Rainbow was waiting for them at the base of the stairs and she was half furious and half excited, 'You really don't want it Steven, it's not just nerves?'

As soon as they were out of sight of the gathered people, Rose swept Steven up into her arms. He was a tired shaky blubbering mess, and he really wanted a meal and his own bed. There would be lots to do later, getting everything passed to his little sister. The half of the kingdom that hadn't been outraged before at his possibly taking the crown were surely outraged now. But for this moment he could put that off for hugs from his mom.

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Author Notes: This was written in all of a half hour on my lunch break, so don't expect much. I looked up random words in the dictionary as inspiration; they were: Versed, Organic, Prince-consort, and Purification.


End file.
